Anna-Clara Tidholm
Anna-Clara Tidholm
Anna-Clara Tidholm
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<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
NomiNated for<br />
the 2010 h.C. aNderseN Prize<br />
by the Swedish Section of IBBY
Content<br />
Ulla Rhedin: A child’s perspective<br />
a a constant point of departure:<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> and the road<br />
to a completely new picture book 3<br />
Birgitta Fransson: <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong>’s<br />
previous books 13<br />
Helen Lumholdt: Reading should<br />
be non-educational (interview with<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong>) 22<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong>: One more<br />
time 28<br />
Biography 30<br />
Prizes 30<br />
Bibliography 31<br />
4
a child’s perspective as a constant point of departure:<br />
anna-<strong>Clara</strong> tidholm and the road to a completely new picture book<br />
Picture book characters? I have<br />
hardly created a single one, at least<br />
no one of those ‘beloved’ ones as they<br />
usually say about picture book characters.<br />
If there is one it would be that<br />
little chap with the round hat and a<br />
dog called Hej.<br />
My interest in such characters has<br />
been minimal. The main reason is<br />
in fact that I am so incredibly bad<br />
at drawing a figure that looks the<br />
same throughout a whole book.<br />
Another reason is that it is dull work<br />
drawing the same figure on every<br />
page in eighteen books. I have even<br />
made children’s books without any<br />
characters. And I have a theory that<br />
children get more involved in picture<br />
books without any people in them at<br />
all – I make the child reading a book<br />
into the main character, quite simply.<br />
(<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> in a letter to the<br />
author 2007, transl. by David Isitt)<br />
“To catch the child’s perspective”,<br />
says <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong>, “is probably<br />
what most preoccupies and<br />
inspires me: to try to begin from<br />
the same level and perspective as<br />
that from a child’s eyes. How do<br />
children perceive their lives? How<br />
can I as an adult recreate their perspective?”<br />
This theory of ’the child’s perspective’<br />
was developed over nearly<br />
40 years of her own writing and<br />
illustrating childrens’ books. This<br />
took place about a decade after her<br />
debut as an illustrator in the 1970’s<br />
and a few years after her breakthrough<br />
with the experimental and<br />
still avant garde picture book “Åkeboken”<br />
(“The Åke Book”, 1983; text<br />
by her husband Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong>,<br />
poet and musician.)<br />
5
Then already by the beginning<br />
of the 1980’s did they develop their<br />
joint view of the picture book as<br />
story telling without the need of<br />
traditional (adult) dramaturgy,<br />
since children have not acquired<br />
the same literary expectations as<br />
adults, they “assemble” a plot on<br />
significantly looser grounds, as in<br />
this case, scene after scene linked<br />
together into a rather loose, open<br />
and impressionist construction.<br />
In 1987 their book “Resan till<br />
Ugri-la-Brek” was published (“The<br />
Journey to Ugri-la-Brek”, awarded<br />
with the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis<br />
1992). Here two children are<br />
looking for their grandfather.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> shows how<br />
they, a bit afraid and lost, look into<br />
his apartment, the door ajar behind<br />
them and the dog in front of<br />
them in the room, the apartment<br />
is empty, his eye glasses still there<br />
thus leaving him without the ability<br />
to fill in the form for the foot-<br />
6<br />
ball pools. Then after the children<br />
after many adventures and a long<br />
journey to “the Other side of the<br />
World” find him to hand him his<br />
eyeglasses, she chooses the same<br />
composition, the same scenography,<br />
to demonstrate how limited<br />
and dependent on reality the imagination<br />
of children is.<br />
In the parallel image, the children<br />
display the same hesitation as<br />
in the first picture, the open door<br />
behind them and the dog in front of<br />
them, in the same yet slightly different<br />
room. Their grandfather is sitting<br />
in his chair and reassures them<br />
that he is fine and that he does not<br />
need his eyeglasses any more.<br />
They cannot imagine his new existence<br />
differently: that grandfather<br />
perhaps (probably) is dead is never<br />
mentioned or shown. This fact has<br />
to be concluded by every child who<br />
is prepared to do so. The pictures<br />
(as well as text) express their only<br />
possible perspective, the child’s perspective,<br />
and they are in this sense<br />
profoundly “childological”.
Playing, the children work<br />
themselves toward their truth about<br />
their grandfather’s disappearance.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> emphasises<br />
this perhaps mostly by letting them<br />
wear different clothes: in the framing<br />
pictures they wear one set of<br />
clothes while they have different<br />
sets during the travel, their play.<br />
While the text demonstrates the<br />
child’s perspective using children’s<br />
choice of words, syntax, children’s<br />
cognitive framework and concepts,<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> expands on<br />
the child’s perspective through a<br />
“naïve” style: this is how a child<br />
might draw. A rather common,<br />
typical human portrayal with more<br />
en face and camera-looks than profiles<br />
and abbreviations; naïve and<br />
unfolded spatial perspectives and<br />
simple, rough techniques typical<br />
for children. She mainly uses water<br />
color for her drawings with clear<br />
and soft out lines. Occasionally<br />
she resorts to children’s crayons or<br />
color pencils of more pale nuances,<br />
giving the impression of a spontaneous<br />
and naïve formalizing, thus<br />
text and illustration cooperate in a<br />
naïve perspective in solidarity with<br />
the child. This is an artistic and aesthetic<br />
challenge, at the same time<br />
deliberately close to children’s ways<br />
of expressing themselves in words<br />
and pictures.<br />
Psychological/existential themes in<br />
picture books for pre-school children<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has repeatedly<br />
returned to difficult and psychologically<br />
dark and worrying themes<br />
in a number of picture books –<br />
jointly with her husband Thomas<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> in several books that have<br />
become classics, and also in cooperation<br />
with other authors. She<br />
has also produced picture books<br />
on her own, such as a story about<br />
psychogical crisis in “Hanna, huset,<br />
hunden” (“Hanna, the House, the<br />
Dog”), which has attracted wide-<br />
spread attention (nominated for the<br />
August Prize in 2004).<br />
Her third cooperation with the<br />
author Ulf Nilsson for “Adjö, Herr<br />
Muffin” (“Good bye, Mr. Muffin”<br />
) which also deals with death,<br />
rendered them this very prize in<br />
2002. This is a soft and warm story<br />
7
about the last and lonely time of<br />
an old guinea pig. His family has<br />
been scattered and only his own<br />
thoughts about their past remain.<br />
This is a tender story about a good<br />
aging process of integration while<br />
death is unavoidably getting closer.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> pictures, in a<br />
rather naturalistic way, a carefully<br />
personified guinea pig (not dressed)<br />
living in a relationship with a caring<br />
owner/person in a tiny house<br />
with small furniture, a mailbox and<br />
a working mail system. The death<br />
process is told on the seven last<br />
spreads from the moment he is too<br />
weak to rise from his bed until the<br />
funeral is over and the reactions to<br />
his death begin to show (e.g. in the<br />
TV-news) in mildly ironical final<br />
scenes.<br />
While “Good bye, Mr. Muffin”<br />
won immediate acclaim also among<br />
adult readers the most recent book<br />
by the <strong>Tidholm</strong>s, “Snälla barn”<br />
8<br />
(“Nice Children”, 2007), encountered<br />
more skepticism among adult<br />
intermediaries. The story is about<br />
two half sisters who spend their<br />
afternoons alone at home after<br />
school. On this particular day both<br />
parents are late and the girls have<br />
to manage on their own until their<br />
father/stepfather returns.<br />
Basically the story is without<br />
drama, it is a realistic description<br />
of life in a modern step family. The<br />
children act as a liason between<br />
the two absent parents, who try<br />
to direct their lives via cell phones<br />
rather than to cooperate. <strong>Anna</strong>-<br />
<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> attempted initially<br />
to illustrate the book with her usual<br />
water color technique but almost at<br />
once turned to her children’s crayon<br />
technique. As in “Åke-boken”, in<br />
the deeply philosophical “Lanas<br />
land” (1996) and in “Hanna, huset,<br />
hunden”, there is in “Snälla barn”<br />
something unstated that sets the<br />
reader’s imagination in motion.<br />
One suspects that this family life<br />
is not easy and one does not really<br />
know why the mother is late. There<br />
is a suggestion that this family perhaps<br />
will not stay together.<br />
“Crayons and colour pencils allow<br />
for a higher degree of naïvité<br />
than water colour”, says <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>. “They reduce the psychological<br />
temperature making it less
energetic, more everyday and closer<br />
to the child.” In spite of this many<br />
critics are of the opinion that the<br />
book is a painful demonstration of<br />
how exposed modern children are.<br />
One critic regarded the book as an<br />
apocalypse over modern family life,<br />
while school children of the same<br />
ages as the children in the book<br />
without difficulties seem to recognize<br />
themselves and their modern<br />
technical world where cordless<br />
telephones, remote controls and<br />
electronic gadgets compensate<br />
for absent adults during long and<br />
lonely afternoons.<br />
How to to render history live<br />
for children<br />
Another track in <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>’s illustrations concerns<br />
the problem of describing the past<br />
in a way possible to understand by<br />
children of today.<br />
In their book “Förr i tiden i<br />
skogen” (“In the Old Days in the<br />
Forest”, nominated for the August<br />
Prize 1993) the <strong>Tidholm</strong>s write<br />
about the revolution beginning in<br />
the middle of the 19th century in a<br />
poor Sweden. This is when a comprehensive<br />
literacy campaign was<br />
launched and compulsory education<br />
was introduced for the first<br />
time. The book shows how the royal<br />
emissary reads a decree sitting on<br />
horseback outside the little cottage<br />
in the forest. Natan’s father is<br />
annoyed with these modern ideas<br />
and forces Natan to shoot squirrels<br />
on his way to and from school for<br />
the boy to be of at least some use.<br />
For Natan however the school, the<br />
reader and the elegant teacher are a<br />
decisive light in a tough and motherless<br />
existence.<br />
In a following picture book with<br />
a historical motif, “Långa ben”<br />
(“Long legs”, 1999) the <strong>Tidholm</strong>s<br />
depict another historical time<br />
9
through the eyes of a child. The<br />
unruly and insecure migration<br />
period where every day is a struggle<br />
between “us” and “the others” for<br />
survival. The story is told in the<br />
voice of an anonymous child. These<br />
books render a kind of poetical<br />
version of how it might have been<br />
as a child at various points in time,<br />
when children frequently were at<br />
peril – times from which the experiences<br />
of children had not been<br />
sorted out as worthy of attention or<br />
depiction.<br />
A similar historical theme is found<br />
in a comprehensive fact book,<br />
“Flickornas historia” (“The Girls<br />
History”, 1997) with text by Kristina<br />
10<br />
Lindström. Here we find Swedish<br />
history pictured through the lives of<br />
seventeen young women from various<br />
social classes, from the stone<br />
age to modern times. This book is<br />
intended for readers of school age.<br />
It is richly illustrated with softly<br />
drawn black and white vignettes<br />
with pictures the size of half a page<br />
as well as a number of full page<br />
coloured illustrations by <strong>Anna</strong>-<br />
<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong>.<br />
In a current exhibition (still open<br />
during the summer season 2009)<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> tries her pictorial<br />
story telling in a new kind of<br />
exhibition for children, “Hela livet<br />
förr i tiden” (“Whole Life in the Old<br />
Days” at the Hälsingland County<br />
Museum).<br />
In cooperation with the russianfinnish<br />
scenic designer Alexander<br />
Reichstein she has created a new,<br />
three dimensional exhibition model<br />
in which the children walk along<br />
a village street between different<br />
houses. In a suggestive and living<br />
display various stations through life<br />
are depicted, from birth to death.<br />
The houses are constructed from a<br />
light metal and transparent cloth;<br />
they are heavily “illustrated” with<br />
full scale persons in various activities<br />
and furnished with few simple<br />
tools and toys from the period.
When children enter the houses<br />
they are surrounded by the people<br />
there, and there is a strong and<br />
magical feeling of having been invited<br />
to take part in the picture.<br />
Toward the poetics of the picture<br />
book for toddlers<br />
The direction mostly associated<br />
with Ann-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> in Sweden<br />
is her unique investigation over<br />
many years into the poetics of children’s<br />
books and the exploration<br />
of the really young child’s reading<br />
perspective. Is it possible to engage<br />
children younger than two years in<br />
the interplay with children’s books?<br />
What would be the purpose of such<br />
an early engagement? To provide<br />
experience, impulses, stimulate<br />
the imagination or contribute to<br />
an energetic interaction with the<br />
adult? The book is an unknown<br />
and fascinating object, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> argues, it can be handled,<br />
perused and browsed in various<br />
ways. Perhaps the story in and of<br />
itself need not be most important?<br />
Perhaps a consistent plot is completely<br />
unnecessary? Perhaps there<br />
is even no need for a leading character?<br />
Perhaps the book is primarily<br />
an incitement to new worlds of play<br />
or pure play?<br />
She has told that she approached<br />
the browsing, the turning of the<br />
page” as the dramaturgical foundation<br />
and powerful basic condition<br />
of the book. Pages can be opened<br />
and closed like “doors”! Had one<br />
ever made full use of the browsing?<br />
A quick exploration of the history<br />
of the picture book demonstrated<br />
that some forerunners had touched<br />
upon this but there was much left<br />
to gain from the specific, physical<br />
quality of the book.<br />
The result was the picture book<br />
for toddlers “Knacka på!” (Knock,<br />
knock, knock”, 1992) where the<br />
pages on the right are doors in various<br />
colours to be knocked, so that<br />
the reader is brought into different<br />
situations, and new doors in the<br />
background lead to new rooms and<br />
new contexts. The child / reader<br />
soon learns to knock on every door<br />
and open them in optional order<br />
until she exits the house. One of the<br />
11
secrets with this story is that the<br />
reader is its main character.<br />
Once the illustrations were<br />
completed only a simple text was<br />
missing. “My own attempts were<br />
completely muted, they sounded<br />
like a reader for the first grade.”<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> then turned<br />
to her husband Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong>,<br />
who wrote a short, rhythmical, almost<br />
rapping text which turned out<br />
to be perfect. However he declined<br />
to be namned as author; this book<br />
was the creation of <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>,<br />
Thomas said. At the end of the<br />
book he has been thanked for his<br />
assistance with the text. “Knacka<br />
på!” has become a huge success<br />
not only in Sweden. And this is<br />
an early, interactive picture book!<br />
Happy parents tell stories about<br />
how their 8-9 months old children<br />
have learned to knock and open<br />
the doors of this book! However<br />
the second secret has unfortunately<br />
remained in Sweden: the original<br />
text which seems so simple is in fact<br />
a rhythmic and effective rap text<br />
written by a professional poet. In<br />
many translations to other languages<br />
the text has been transformed<br />
into a more traditional educational<br />
and altogether too obvious text.<br />
During a large international<br />
exhibition of picture books at The<br />
Nordic Watercolour Museum the<br />
12<br />
guided tours for schoolchildren<br />
began at the wall where the original<br />
drawings for “Knacka på!” were<br />
shown. On one occasion while the<br />
art curator was presenting the origins<br />
of the book, all the boys (aged<br />
fourteen) requested “Let us knock!<br />
Let us knock!” All Swedish children<br />
now hold this “first book” in dear<br />
memory.<br />
The book “Knacka på!” was<br />
followed by three books with<br />
similar planning for play (“Ut och<br />
gå!”/“Out Walking” 1993, “Hitta<br />
på!”/“Find Out” 1993, “Varför<br />
då?”/“Tell Me Why” 1994) and a<br />
cd-rom which makes it possible for<br />
children from age two to play with,<br />
transform and expand the contents<br />
of the book by pointing at figures<br />
and objects. It may be to put vegetables<br />
in a pot to prepare a soup for<br />
the rabbits, to water the old man’s<br />
plants so they don’t die, put laundry<br />
in the washing machine or discover<br />
what the little bears are dreaming.<br />
In 1994 <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> had<br />
another innovative idea for little<br />
children’s picture books, “twowords-books”,<br />
where two titles in<br />
a long series stand out: “Läsa bok”<br />
and “Apan fin” (“Read Book” and<br />
“Pretty Monkey”, 1999). The former<br />
portrays a mouse boy who has to<br />
remain indoors because of rain.
Through the window he watches<br />
the scene: wild animals, high<br />
mountains, many trees and finally<br />
he sits down with a book: “Läsa<br />
bok” (“Read book”)! In “Apan fin”<br />
a little girl goes out into the world<br />
and meets a dog, she is scared and<br />
brave and returns home – wet but<br />
unharmed.<br />
Male and female, yes, but for<br />
once passively and meditatively in<br />
the first instance, actively and enterprising<br />
in the second! Moreover<br />
these two books demonstrate that<br />
simple stories of 26 words on 13<br />
spreads may expand the traditional<br />
children’s book for toddlers with<br />
respect to choice of words, motifs<br />
and objects in new and unexpected<br />
ways.<br />
Throughout her entire production,<br />
especially from the 1990s and<br />
onwards, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has<br />
switched between depicting animals<br />
or humans with ease. According to<br />
her sometimes animals are more<br />
suitable, when you look for something<br />
common and do not wish to<br />
disturb the story with too many<br />
social specifications. One example<br />
is the picture book “En liten stund”<br />
(“A Short While”, 2006) where it<br />
is more relaxed and permissive to<br />
portray the children as rabbits; the<br />
children can live alone, wash the<br />
dishes, cook and walk over to each<br />
other without creating a number of<br />
questions. At the same time she fulfils<br />
a wish: to produce a traditional<br />
and friendly animal picture book<br />
in the spirit of Beatrix Potter. There<br />
are several references especially to<br />
Peter Rabbit. It has been said about<br />
this book that it is not the rabbit<br />
qualities of Peter Rabbit that are of<br />
interest to a child, but the possibility<br />
of recognizing himself in what is<br />
happening to the rabbit.<br />
Movies<br />
In 2001 the first animated film was<br />
made based on one of the books by<br />
the <strong>Tidholm</strong>s, “Jims vinter” (“Jim’s<br />
Winter”, 1988).This work stimulated<br />
thoughts about how to find<br />
an appeal and a suitable tempo for<br />
an animated film for toddlers. The<br />
result was “Snuttefilm” for small<br />
children (2008), five stories each of<br />
five minutes, based on three of her<br />
picture books: “Apan fin” (“Pretty<br />
Monkey”, 1999) and “Hela natten”<br />
(“All Night Long”, 2002) and “Alla<br />
får åka med” (“Everyone Can Ride<br />
Along”, 2004). The collection also<br />
contains two original manuscripts,<br />
“Simons anka” and “Nelly packar”<br />
(“Simon’s Duck” and “Nelly Packs<br />
Her Bag”, 2008) which later were<br />
published as picture books. One<br />
model has been the TV-series<br />
13
“Teletubbies”, which has been much<br />
discussed among adults in Sweden<br />
for a number of years. <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> defended the series from<br />
the start because of its perfect tone<br />
with respect to dramaturgy for<br />
small children: the slow tempo,<br />
many repetitions, typified characters<br />
and generalised personalties.<br />
For a couple of decades <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> has been considered one<br />
of the foremost picture book artists<br />
in Sweden, unique in her approach<br />
to children and in her constant<br />
perusal of theoretical questions<br />
concerning the being of children.<br />
Her naïve pictorial style may seem<br />
spontaneous and unaffected, but<br />
her background work is considered<br />
unusually deep and genuine among<br />
illustrators.<br />
On her lecturing tours in the<br />
Nordic countries and in a series of<br />
new cultural and debate articles she<br />
reveals deep interests in modern<br />
theories of the brain, depth psychology<br />
as well as theories about<br />
the linguistic and cognitive development<br />
of children. She is a headstrong<br />
and independent thinker<br />
14<br />
prepared for struggle with many<br />
questions concerning the traditional<br />
views of children. Her methods<br />
of exploring the models of other<br />
writers and illustrators, building on<br />
traditions and concepts, make her<br />
texts rich in symbols of great diversity.<br />
One completely unexpected<br />
intertext can be found in “En liten<br />
stund” as a reference to Gillian<br />
Welch’s “One little song” from the<br />
cd “Soul Journey”!<br />
While <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has<br />
come from the textual side as a<br />
poet, writer and student of literature,<br />
she lacks formal art education;<br />
this is both an asset and a deficiency,<br />
in her own opinion. This fact<br />
may explain why she approaches<br />
her assignments the way she does:<br />
with less focus on the main characters,<br />
and the way they look and<br />
other details, but the more concentrated<br />
on the reader as well as on<br />
the complexity and depth of the<br />
complete work.<br />
Ulla Rhedin<br />
Ph.D.<br />
Picture book critic in the Swedish daily<br />
Dagens Nyheter<br />
Translated by Marshall Ansell
anna-<strong>Clara</strong> tidholm’s previous books<br />
oFor the last thirty-five years <strong>Anna</strong>-<br />
<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has been drawing<br />
for children in a naivistic style not<br />
far removed from children’s own<br />
way of drawing and with a depth<br />
and feeling that are also closely<br />
related to child-hood. Her pictures<br />
have become increasingly poetic<br />
with the years. Her midnight blue<br />
skies full of stars communicate a<br />
longing for eternity. The bright,<br />
happy drawings from the beginning<br />
of time in “Kasper’s alla dagar” (All<br />
Caspar’s Days,1994) fill the beholder<br />
with the joy of life.<br />
The subjects that she portrays<br />
range from creation to death and,<br />
in between, such varied matters as<br />
space trips, everyday life at nursery<br />
school, love, the history of the universe,<br />
getting a sister or brother...<br />
She has retold and reillustrated<br />
fables and fairy-tales and she has<br />
brought new life to books for the<br />
very young with a series of simple,<br />
very colourful and playful books<br />
for infants. The first, called “Knacka<br />
på!” (“Knock, Knock, Knock!”), was<br />
published in 1992. Regardless of<br />
subject and of the intended age of<br />
the readers, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> is<br />
always on the side of the child.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> was born in Stock-<br />
holm in 1946. After matriculation<br />
she studied literature at university<br />
and worked as a journalist and<br />
author before turning to drawing.<br />
Her first illustrated books were, on<br />
the one hand, politically critical in<br />
a manner typical of the period and,<br />
on the other hand, renarrations<br />
of fairy-tales such as “Jätten och<br />
ekorren” (The Giant and the Squirrel),<br />
“Sagan om osten” (Tale of the<br />
Cheese), “Korven” (The Sausage),<br />
“Pojken och hans ulliga får” (The<br />
Boy and his Woolly Sheep).<br />
In 1970 <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> moved with<br />
her family from Stockholm to Hälsingland<br />
in northern Sweden where<br />
they still live.<br />
Books in collaboration with<br />
Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
In 1983 “Åkeboken” (Åke’s Book),<br />
which <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> had produced<br />
in collaboration with her husband,<br />
the poet and musician Thomas<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>, was published. It represents<br />
something new in her creative<br />
work.<br />
The text of “Åkeboken” is simple<br />
and childlike. What happens in the<br />
story is seemingly unthreatening<br />
and common-place but there is an<br />
un-easiness, an uncanny feeling<br />
15
“Åkeboken” (Åke’s Book)<br />
under-lying the text. A mood that is<br />
rein-forced by the wild, expressive<br />
pictures. <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> makes use of<br />
ink drawings coloured with crayon<br />
and with broad strokes as a frame<br />
holding the picture together. Åke<br />
himself is a serious-minded fairhaired<br />
young man with a challenging<br />
expression and a stripy T-shirt.<br />
A character that reappears in various<br />
guises in several books.<br />
“Not having any artistic training<br />
I have to work out my own solutions.<br />
I have to reduce and simplify<br />
and develop my own techniques”,<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> has explained in connection<br />
with “Åkeboken”. “Often<br />
it is time-demanding, problematic<br />
and laborious – my solution has<br />
often been to try to imagine how<br />
children would draw and then to<br />
imitate them. For a nine-year-old<br />
nothing is impossible or remarkable.”<br />
16<br />
“Åkeboken” was the first in a<br />
series of books by <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> and<br />
Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong> dealing with existential<br />
problems at children’s level<br />
in a way that is both poetic and<br />
philosophical and which appeals<br />
both to children and adults.<br />
“Resan till Ugri-La-Brek” (The<br />
Journey to Ugri-La-Brek) is, perhaps,<br />
the best known and best<br />
loved. It was published in 1987 and<br />
deals with two children, Hinken<br />
and Myran and their dog called<br />
Strunt. The children’s grandfather<br />
has disappeared and their parents<br />
refuse to say where he is. His flat is<br />
empty and on the table by his armchair<br />
are his glasses and his pools<br />
coupon. The children determine to<br />
look for their grandfather and set<br />
out on a journey to the other side of<br />
the world. In order to get there they<br />
have to cross a wide, dark river. On<br />
“resan till Ugri-La-Brek” (the Journey to<br />
Ugri-La-Brek)
the other side everything is cold<br />
and frozen. But in the little village<br />
of Ugri-La-Brek (which means “village<br />
where the smoke goes straight<br />
up”) they find grandfather who is<br />
very well. The children can happily<br />
return home.<br />
Nowhere is it stated that grandfather<br />
is dead. Indeed the reader<br />
does not even have to read the story<br />
in that light but can enjoy it as an<br />
exciting adventure in space and<br />
time.<br />
The expressive illustrations use<br />
strong colours and generally spread<br />
over the whole page. They are not<br />
framed but <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> has chosen<br />
to make them fill the page or has<br />
brush strokes out to the edges. The<br />
perspective has been chosen so that<br />
one can see the earth’s curve and<br />
can understand that the children really<br />
wander “to the other side of the<br />
world”. <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> has explained<br />
that: “What is one to do when one<br />
gets such an impossible demand<br />
from the text that one is obliged to<br />
draw the whole world? Nobody can<br />
manage that, I think and I get angry<br />
at the author. But then I go over to<br />
my childlike perspective: a nineyear-old<br />
would merely get started.<br />
What do you mean impossible?<br />
This is what the world looks like!”<br />
“Resan till Ugri-La-Brek” was<br />
awarded the Deutsche Jugendli-<br />
teraturpreis in 1992 and it has been<br />
dramatized and performed by various<br />
theatre groups in Sweden. In<br />
the autumn of 1995 it was produced<br />
by the Swedish National Touring<br />
theatre which performed it in<br />
schools and at family performances.<br />
In 1996 it was premiered in Berlin.<br />
The book has been translated into<br />
Danish, Norwegian, German and<br />
Japanese.<br />
“Balladen om Marjan och Rolf ”<br />
(Ballad of Marian and Rolf), a<br />
further collaboration between<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> and Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
appeared in 1989. This is<br />
a modern Robin Hood story as<br />
well as a love story which takes<br />
place in the provincial Swedish<br />
town of Katrineholm. The illustra-<br />
“Balladen om marjan och rolf” (Ballad of<br />
marian and rolf)<br />
17
tions are in subdued colours and<br />
framed with powerful water-colour<br />
brush-strokes. They are not fully<br />
as boundless as the illustrations in<br />
the book on Ugri-La-Brek which<br />
are perfectly in harmony with the<br />
story. In this case the conflict takes<br />
place within and between people.<br />
The whole world is to be found in<br />
Katrineholm. Marjan loves Rolf<br />
who is a robber living in the mountains,<br />
a wildman who never washes<br />
his hair. He is a solitary boy who is<br />
without a mother and who has run<br />
away from everything. But Marjan’s<br />
father, who is a policeman, arrests<br />
Rolf and locks him up. It is only<br />
when Marjan saves Rolf that he can<br />
accept that she, a girl, can also be a<br />
robber in the forest.<br />
When the hour of liberty chimes<br />
for the two children there is no<br />
longer a frame to keep them within<br />
the picture. They are standing on a<br />
mountain with an optimistically red<br />
sky in the background.<br />
“Vill ha syster!” (Want Sister!,<br />
1991) is more difficult to interpret.<br />
It deals with a small boy, one of<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s round-eyed, serious<br />
boy figures in a stripy T-shirt. He<br />
has no name but is called “you”.<br />
He tells his parents that he wants<br />
a sister and they promise him one<br />
in due course. But time passes and<br />
18<br />
“Vill ha syster!” (Want sister!)<br />
when he feels most lonely and sad<br />
he discovers a house that he has<br />
never seen before. An old man and<br />
his wife live there and they invite<br />
the boy in. He stays in the chaotic<br />
house for several days. One day is<br />
green and he can play in the Tivoli<br />
Woods that are in the house. One<br />
day is blue and he bathes in the<br />
Blue Sea. One day is yellow and<br />
he plays alone in the burning sand<br />
of the Sunshine Land. Then he<br />
feels homesick and, in spite of the<br />
protests of his hosts, he leaves them<br />
and the old man and his wife shrink<br />
and disappear entirely, as does the<br />
house. The boy takes a newly laid<br />
bird’s egg with him and goes home<br />
– to discover that he has just got<br />
a little sister. “– I know, you say.<br />
It was hard work. But it was very<br />
strange and exciting too.” On the
“förr i tiden i skogen” (in the old days in the forest)<br />
final page he holds his little sister<br />
tenderly in his grasp.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s way of using colour<br />
helps the book to communicate<br />
how chaotic and difficult the period<br />
before a brother or sister is born<br />
can seem. At home with mummy<br />
and daddy the colours are sunny<br />
and cheerful while in the chaotic<br />
house they are strong, glaring and<br />
obtrusive; hurtful to the eyes. When<br />
the boy flees home again the night<br />
is dark blue with only a few stars<br />
and thin strips of light but the sky<br />
gets lighter as he gets nearer home<br />
and when his mother and father<br />
stand there with the new-born baby<br />
the picture is, once again, filled<br />
with sunshine. The same hopeful,<br />
happy sunshine is to be found in<br />
“Kaspers alla dagar” (All Caspar’s<br />
Days, 1994), a story, or rather a<br />
legend from the time when Caspar<br />
still wandered about in the world.<br />
Everything was newly created and<br />
there was no order yet. There are<br />
obvious allusions to the Bible but<br />
the book preaches a gospel of freedom,<br />
generosity and child-likeness.<br />
The pictures too are generous.<br />
They fill the whole spread and, just<br />
like the illustrations to “Resan till<br />
19
Ugri-La-Brek”, they cover the whole<br />
world. One sees the mountains<br />
and trees and the sea and houses<br />
and the curve of the earth all at<br />
once – and the world is beautiful<br />
and a delight to live in. “Förr i tiden<br />
i skogen” (In the Old Days in the<br />
Forest, 1993) is a completely different<br />
sort of book. It is a story about a<br />
boy who lived a long time ago when<br />
distances between the farms in the<br />
north were great and words were<br />
sparse. It was so difficult to say what<br />
one meant that people preferred to<br />
keep silent and let the one whom<br />
they wanted to retain travel on his<br />
way. <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s illustrations show<br />
the harshness of life and the austerity<br />
of human relationships. Her<br />
illustrations are like old-fashioned<br />
school pictures. Indeed, the whole<br />
book is reminiscent of Swedish<br />
picture books, such as those of Elsa<br />
Beskow, from an earlier epoque<br />
with the text and a black and white<br />
illustration on the left-hand side<br />
with the right side filled by a colour<br />
picture. “Förr i tiden i skogen”<br />
has been translated into Danish,<br />
Norwegian, French, Japanese and<br />
German.<br />
Thomas and <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
have also produced a number<br />
of easy readers for slightly older<br />
children, books with short chapters<br />
and black and white illustrations<br />
20<br />
including “Glöm inte jordnötterna”<br />
(Don’t Forget the Peanuts), “Jims<br />
vinter” (Jim’s Winter) and “Ett jobb<br />
för Jacko” (A Job for Jacko).<br />
Two books for very small children<br />
appeared in 1995. “Ture blåser<br />
bort” (Ture Blows Away) and “Ture<br />
kokar soppa” (Ture Makes Soup).<br />
These books, with texts by Thomas<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> that are poetic in a fashion<br />
close to children, are in ’look<br />
and say’ format wich <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
has used to great effect. When little<br />
Ture is presented he takes up only a<br />
small part of the page. On the next<br />
spread his house, very logically,<br />
fills a larger space and when Ture,<br />
together with his dog, is borne out<br />
into the wide world by the wind the<br />
illustrations are large and generous,<br />
covering the whole page. They<br />
are realistic stories with a fabulous<br />
“ture blåser bort” (ture Blows away)
dimension. Perhaps one could class<br />
them as magical realism for the<br />
very small.<br />
Collaboration with other authors<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has also illustrated<br />
the work of other authors.<br />
Among the most interesting are<br />
“Barnens svenska historia, del 1.<br />
När människorna kom” (Children’s<br />
History of Sweden, Part 1. When<br />
the People Came) by Sonja Hulth.<br />
It begins 70 000 years ago when<br />
it started snowing in Sweden. It<br />
snowed and snowed and snowed ...<br />
Many thousand years were to pass<br />
before spring returned. The book<br />
ends about 1000 AD. Text and illustrations<br />
show how the ice melts<br />
and makes room for animals and<br />
people, how the people co-operate<br />
and start settlements, how they get<br />
food, play and organize their lives.<br />
The illustrations are poetic and full<br />
of empathy. It is easy for children<br />
to identify with their comrades<br />
far back in history. There are also<br />
instructive drawings of runes and<br />
rock carvings.<br />
“Pojken och stjärnan” (The Boy<br />
and the Star) with a text by Barbro<br />
Lindgren (1991) narrates a sad and<br />
dramatic story set in a circus. The<br />
star is a little pony that is born on<br />
the same night as the fire-eater’s<br />
son. The boy and the pony become<br />
best friends but when the pony<br />
does not dare to jump from a high<br />
tower into a tiny pool, the circus<br />
director gets angry and decides to<br />
send it for slaughter. The star flees<br />
and experiences numerous dangerous<br />
adventures before he is finally<br />
reunited with the boy in the happy<br />
conclusion.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s pictures of the<br />
pony are tender and just as loving<br />
as are the star and the boy towards<br />
each other. The colours are rich<br />
and vibrant and the pictorial solutions<br />
unconventional. “Pojken och<br />
stjärnan” has been dramatized and<br />
performed in various theatres including<br />
a musical version at Sweden’s<br />
National Theatre with a score<br />
by Georg Riedel.<br />
Own books<br />
Among books that <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> has both written and illustrated<br />
is “Allihop” (All of Them)<br />
(1993) which was originally a TV<br />
programme or, rather, a series<br />
of programmes. The setting is a<br />
play-school and the children attending<br />
it are portrayed in words<br />
and pictures. It shows a section of<br />
Swedish society with the children’s<br />
varying social environments as a<br />
background but it is their personalities<br />
that are important. The reader<br />
21
“allihop” (all of them)<br />
meets Frida, who likes things to<br />
be organized and tidy, Evert who<br />
does not enjoy playing and who<br />
feels so lonely in the play-school,<br />
dark-haired Rosita who is much too<br />
kind, Jonny who is both strong and<br />
kind and Britta who has everything<br />
except her mother’s and father’s<br />
time and attention.<br />
“Allihop” is very popular at<br />
nurseries because the children feel<br />
that it is about themselves. It is<br />
generously illustrated with several<br />
pictures on every spread.<br />
“Ett fall för Nalle” (A Case for<br />
Teddy) (1988) is a detective story<br />
for small children in thirteen chapters,<br />
illustrated in black and white.<br />
Nalle starts a detective agency and,<br />
in the accepted manner of private<br />
detectives, he solves one case after<br />
another. “Ett fall för Nalle” was<br />
originally a radio series.<br />
22<br />
“ett fall för<br />
Nalle” (a<br />
Case for<br />
teddy)<br />
In 1992 <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
published a book for very small<br />
children, just above the ’look and<br />
say’ level, that caused great rejoicing<br />
among reviewers – as well as<br />
children. “Knacka på!” (Knock,<br />
Knock, Knock!) in which the child<br />
and the adult go through different<br />
coloured doors and discover exciting<br />
things behind them. This book<br />
was followed in rapid succession<br />
by “Ut och gå!”, “Hitta på!” and<br />
“Varför då?” (Out Walking, Find<br />
Out! and Tell Me Why). “A book for<br />
the very young to rejoice about” the<br />
periodical Vi Föräldrar wrote. And<br />
Lärarnas tidning wrote that “She<br />
has created a classic on the level of<br />
the predecessor “Nalle” (Teddy). In<br />
Opsis Kalopsis Susanna Ekström<br />
wrote : “I believe that <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong> has done more than<br />
anyone else to renew picture books<br />
for infants in Sweden. Her way
“Knacka på!” (Knock, Knock, Knock!)<br />
of using colour, of expanding the<br />
pictorial space and introducing<br />
unexpected motifs is revolutionary”.<br />
These books have been translated<br />
into Norwegian, Danish, German,<br />
Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Japanese.<br />
Portuguese, French, Faeroese,<br />
Iclandic, Hebrew, Polish, Italian and<br />
English.<br />
“Varför då?” (tell me Why)<br />
In her books for small children<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> shows how well she is<br />
able to empathize with children’s<br />
thoughts and feelings, what they<br />
find exciting and diverting. The<br />
books can be used for stimulating<br />
play involving children and adults<br />
at the same time as they provide<br />
children with artistic and aesthetic<br />
experiences. Every page is like a<br />
painting with rich, cheerful colours<br />
specially created for this particular<br />
age-group.<br />
Manifold talents<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> has by no<br />
means restricted herself to picture<br />
books. She has had several exhibitions<br />
at which she has shown book<br />
illustrations as well as water-colours<br />
and oil-paintings. She makes radio<br />
and TV programmes and her first<br />
publication was a collection of<br />
poems for adults (1966). From time<br />
to time she participates in public<br />
discussion of cultural issues and she<br />
visits schools to talk about books<br />
and art.<br />
Her perspective is the child’s and<br />
she constantly maintains her solidarity<br />
with the children.<br />
Birgitta Fransson<br />
Translated by William Jewson<br />
23
eading should be non-educational<br />
to have fun, that’s what reading is all about, says anna-<strong>Clara</strong> tidholm,<br />
illustrator and writer. all that other talk about how useful and important<br />
it is to read, she doesn’t like.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> is the author<br />
of picture books like Apan fin (Pretty<br />
Monkey), Hela natten (All Night<br />
Long) and of course Knacka på!<br />
(Knock knock knock!). Books that<br />
in the highest degree introduced<br />
and established the genre småbarnsböcker<br />
(infant books). An infant<br />
book is meant for children up<br />
to about three years. Infant books<br />
must, says <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>, be very<br />
carefully adapted to the lowest ages.<br />
They must be simple and small children’s<br />
level. The content must limit<br />
itself to things that infants are supposed<br />
to have seen or experienced.<br />
And that is a question for both<br />
the writing and the pictures. The<br />
picture book parts from the “pointing<br />
out-book” through its precise<br />
adapted text (words).<br />
She is working with happy and<br />
strong colours and with pictures<br />
that are simple, distinct and in clear<br />
interplay with the text.<br />
– When it comes to colours, I<br />
think you have to overdo it a bit<br />
working with infant books. And<br />
24<br />
besides, I like “toy-colours”.<br />
Talking about the clearness in<br />
the pictures, it is important but that<br />
doesn’t mean that she only deal<br />
with reproducing reality.<br />
– No, it should be boring. To the<br />
reproducing you must add a feeling,<br />
a tune or an expression. My<br />
task is not to be pedagogic. I have<br />
no ambition to teach the children<br />
about colours or anything like that.<br />
My task is to supply adventures,<br />
experiences.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> tells me about a mistake<br />
she has made about the clearness<br />
in her pictures. Like one with<br />
speed-lines.<br />
It is in the book Find out where<br />
a building of toy bricks is falling<br />
down, accompanied with these<br />
words:<br />
“Hitta på att rulla buller Hoppa<br />
dunsa Ramla Brak! Faller leksaker<br />
ner på golvet med en farlig fart”<br />
Among all the things that fall is<br />
a monkey. To mark the enormous<br />
speed, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> painted white<br />
speed-lines. Lines that cover the<br />
arm of the monkey. Reading chil
dren noticed with despair that the<br />
monkeys arm was broken.<br />
– I felt very irritated by such a<br />
mistake. But when the story was to<br />
be reprinted in an anthology. I got<br />
a chance to correct the mistake, so I<br />
did. It was a good feeling.<br />
The picture is the most important<br />
in an infant book, but the text is<br />
also important. The words themselves<br />
are not only significant, they<br />
form a rhythm, a melody and are<br />
by that an entrance to the language,<br />
explains <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> who very carefully<br />
has formulated two-wordssentences<br />
like<br />
“Ute regnar<br />
himmel grå<br />
Vara inne<br />
Hitta på!”<br />
(Out raining<br />
Sky grey<br />
Be inside<br />
Find out!)<br />
And<br />
”Lilla huset<br />
Blåa dörren<br />
Ska vi gå<br />
Och hälsa på?”<br />
(Little house<br />
Door blue<br />
Shall we go<br />
Drop in?)<br />
Books must have a way in, otherwise<br />
the supposed reader will be<br />
left outside the door, excluded from<br />
the bookpages and their content. A<br />
carefully formulated text in combination<br />
with interplaying pictures<br />
can open up the book wide to small<br />
children.<br />
– Sometimes parents write to me<br />
and tell me that they have read for<br />
example Knock, knock, knock! with<br />
their child. “He is just nine months<br />
old and wow, it works”, they say<br />
with enthusiasm. They are happy<br />
and I am happy. You won’t have that<br />
feeling, if the book is on the wrong<br />
level.<br />
Round Sweden there are a lot of<br />
reading promotion projects going<br />
on, more or less successful.<br />
Municipalities that give money for<br />
reading-projects and give books to<br />
children who enter school or preschool<br />
or celebrate one year or are<br />
newborn. A well-intentioned work<br />
25
with uncertain results, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
thinks.<br />
– If you want to send out books<br />
to children, you must be aware of<br />
how and why you do it. You must<br />
come in the right time with the<br />
right books. In many places they<br />
are so pleased with having sent out<br />
a book, that they are quite satisfied<br />
with that. Many of them can not<br />
see the difference between an infant<br />
book and a picture book. But a<br />
book for a one-year old and a book<br />
for a five-year old are quite different<br />
things. And to give an anthology to<br />
a newborn child, is totally meaningless.<br />
There are too many pedagogic<br />
thoughts behind the choice of<br />
books, says <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>. The ones<br />
who choose books are turning to<br />
the parents more than to the children.<br />
– They don’t put the child in the<br />
center, in spite of what many proclaims<br />
they do.<br />
The parents often think the same<br />
and emphasize the utility aspect<br />
or they are forced by the delight to<br />
introduce books that meant a lot<br />
to them in their own childhood.<br />
Parents start to read books out loud<br />
too early. You can’t pick up Astrid<br />
Lindgren’s “Emil in Lönneberga”<br />
and read it to a two-year old child.<br />
26<br />
Many people yet do it, because they<br />
are so keen. Many read Pippi as<br />
well – but think about it! It is too<br />
difficult for small children. There<br />
is a whole world to experience and<br />
understand before you can understand<br />
Pippi.<br />
The contents of Pippi, Emil and<br />
other wellknown children books are<br />
hidden for small children, but nevertheless<br />
the infants world is full of<br />
their symbols. It is Pippi dolls, Winnie<br />
the Pooh on the bib and Laban<br />
the ghost on the feeding bottle.<br />
– Small children’s culture is emptied<br />
of its content. There is just the<br />
surface left. Therefore the infants<br />
books will be of greater importance.<br />
They present a substance which the<br />
children can understand, <strong>Anna</strong>-<br />
<strong>Clara</strong> explains. It’s not just about<br />
the book taking place in an arena<br />
which is familiar to the kid. There<br />
are other conditions that are as important<br />
to relate to. She tells about<br />
a boy who read just an opening in<br />
her book “Hela natten” (All Night<br />
Long). There was a picture of a for-
est and in the forest there was an<br />
owl. To him the book became “The<br />
Owl-book”.<br />
My books are on purpose made<br />
in a way that you mustn´t read<br />
from the beginning to the end. You<br />
can start from the middle or read<br />
only an opening. Infants are simply<br />
not interested in everything. Don’t<br />
think that. Reading shall be noneducational<br />
and voluntarily. All that<br />
discussion about the useful reading<br />
is a bit stupid and moralizing. Like<br />
“read for your children otherwise<br />
they will be out of work when they<br />
grow up”.<br />
The social interaction in playing<br />
and reading together, can the television<br />
or other media never compete<br />
with, is <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s point. For the<br />
rest she thinks that the importance<br />
of reading is exaggerated.<br />
– Actually, I don’t know why<br />
reading should be so much better<br />
for the children than watching TV,<br />
she says and notices then that also<br />
infants watch TV and Dvd either<br />
we find it useful or not.<br />
– Well, then you could make<br />
something good instead, which<br />
is adapted to them. Besides Teletubbies<br />
there are no programs<br />
specially made for this age-group,<br />
says <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> who now together<br />
with the animator, Gun Jacobson is<br />
planning to do something about it.<br />
They have made a pilot study, but<br />
are preparing for a whole series of<br />
films under the title “Snuttefilm”<br />
and they are dealing with both old<br />
and new stories.<br />
– First I didn’t like the idea, but if<br />
it is good adapted, I find it okey. But<br />
I have never thought that my books<br />
should be used for anything else<br />
than reading.<br />
Together with Ulla Rhedin, PhD in<br />
Literature, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> some years<br />
ago was out in the pre-schools talking<br />
about infant books. She discovered<br />
then that infant books is a<br />
relatively new phenomenon.<br />
– I used to mention the classics<br />
“Kattresan” (The Cats Journey)<br />
and the story about the little, little<br />
old woman. There are not so many<br />
more books, not in a historical<br />
perspective. Nowadays there are of<br />
27
course some more but it’s no abundance<br />
of them.<br />
Siv Widerberg and Cecilia<br />
Torudd have made a book about<br />
chairs and one about pillows.<br />
– They are funny. And I like Helena<br />
Davidsson Neppelbergs books<br />
about Vera. Or else there isn’t much<br />
to read for the children when they<br />
are small.<br />
Some books have dull texts.<br />
Others are badly translated. And<br />
there is not so much new thinking<br />
in the infant books, says <strong>Anna</strong>-<br />
<strong>Clara</strong> who is convinced that it is<br />
easier to think in new ways if you<br />
have a theory as a startingpoint for<br />
your creative work.<br />
The theory she has worked from<br />
is that small children can not identify<br />
with main characters in books.<br />
– Most infant books have a Totte,<br />
a Max or an Emma, but in my<br />
books it is the reader herself who is<br />
the main character. I don’t know if<br />
I am right, but in my infant books<br />
there are no main characters. Eva<br />
Eriksson’s and Barbro Lindgren’s<br />
books about Max are some of<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>’s favourites but there<br />
are young parents who don’t like<br />
them at all, she tells.<br />
– There are those who think<br />
that the Max books are boring and<br />
grumbling and that they give a negative<br />
outlook on life through stick-<br />
28<br />
ing only to the children’s conflicts.<br />
So I decided to make a book with a<br />
more positive outlook on life.<br />
The result was “Alla får åka med”<br />
(Everyone Can Ride Along) where<br />
a girl drives a big truck and picks<br />
up a boy who has tumbled down,<br />
a dog who is freezing and some<br />
other lonely and sad existences and<br />
everything ends up with eating and<br />
a feeling of solidarity in the big<br />
house. Linda Skugge named it a<br />
“progg-book”. She didn’t like it.<br />
But perhaps it is that sort of books<br />
that are needed in this times, books<br />
about solidarity and generosity.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> has no new infant<br />
book going on. Her publisher tries<br />
to convince her about long series to<br />
sell abroad.<br />
– I haven’t agreed to that. I have<br />
said that I can make another book<br />
which in that case will be called
“Ingen får åka med” (Nobody can<br />
Ride Along). But joking apart, “Everyone<br />
Can Ride Along” has actually<br />
been sold to several countries,<br />
she tells, pleased with the thought<br />
that children get access to her and<br />
other’s infant books. She has been<br />
out touring and talking about this<br />
issue in pre-schools, BVC (children<br />
care centrals) and libraries. She<br />
wishes that the persons working on<br />
BVCs and at libraries as well as the<br />
parents should get more knowledge<br />
about infant books, their meaning<br />
and offers.<br />
– When it comes to teaching in<br />
children’s literature at the institutes<br />
of education, it seems that it more<br />
often takes its startingpoint in<br />
the literature than in the children<br />
themselves. The pre-school teachers<br />
should learn more about which<br />
books are suitable for different ages.<br />
Projects about infant books must<br />
start from the childrens own basic<br />
level.<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> was, as she describes it<br />
herself, a hysterically reading child<br />
and is very precise with separating<br />
different sorts of reading. Her own<br />
she calls lonely-reading.<br />
– I used the stories of the books<br />
as escape and fantasy. That is not<br />
something I will recommend to<br />
others, she says.<br />
The other way of reading you<br />
could call together-reading. That’s<br />
what small children do, and they<br />
should get the chance to do it much<br />
more.<br />
– To infants reading is a very<br />
social thing. Children are very open<br />
for interaction and books give them<br />
possibilities for that. Many times it’s<br />
the person who reads, who is interesting,<br />
more than the book itself.<br />
– A good book functions both<br />
with adults and children. The reading<br />
is a superior manner for children<br />
and adults to have fun together.<br />
Helen Lumholdt<br />
in the magazine Förskolan<br />
(The Pre-school) nr. 8/ 2005<br />
Translated by Sven Hallonsten<br />
29
anna-<strong>Clara</strong> tidholm: one more time<br />
Yes, books are outstanding. And of<br />
course it is excellent reading books.<br />
It is a truth, hard to questioning.<br />
In our culture every child needs an<br />
adjustment to the world of languages.<br />
Children’s books are one<br />
of the most important tools in that<br />
schooling.<br />
But in despite of my self working<br />
with children’s books, I have<br />
sometimes problems conforming<br />
to the certainty of belief in reading<br />
promotion. Librarians, teachers,<br />
preschool persons – everybody are<br />
doing a marvellous work, helping<br />
those books we are producing<br />
reaching the children. Without<br />
their competence and work we<br />
would be helpless drifting in the sea<br />
of commerce. Where our sometimes<br />
curious and not-so-cute<br />
books would drown and sink (to<br />
the bottom)!<br />
Of course children need books –<br />
but children need even more fairly<br />
stable grownups, clean air, warm<br />
clothes in winter and a lot of time<br />
and room and possibilities and<br />
freedom to play. Yes. Most of all<br />
play- because play is the real core<br />
of childhood, when it is allowed to<br />
30<br />
go on undisturbed and under the<br />
protection of adults, mentally close<br />
but on just sufficiently distance.<br />
In playing are included all that we<br />
put into the conception of culture,<br />
play includes all the forms of art:<br />
music, theatre, architecture, dance,<br />
circus, art, language. But on children’s<br />
own conditions and their<br />
own chosen levels.<br />
The critic of children’s books Magnus<br />
William-Olsson, who every<br />
year writes unpredictably surveys<br />
in the newspaper Aftonbladet, was<br />
in one of his texts surprised of the<br />
absence of play in children’s books.<br />
He did not mean descriptions of
children playing, but the fact that<br />
children’s books so seldom use the<br />
play as starting point and substance.<br />
Both in the books and in our way of<br />
using them, adult literary concepts<br />
is in fact dominating. The book<br />
shall have action, main characters,<br />
a conflict and a distinct ending.<br />
Like in books for adults. When we<br />
use a book for children we read it.<br />
Unconsciously we pass our adult<br />
way of assimilating literature to the<br />
children. And feel like good reading-promotioners…<br />
When producing books for small<br />
children I have become aware of<br />
the potential of a picture book to<br />
pass the borders of the literary<br />
concept of the adult. Here you don’t<br />
need action! And very few words.<br />
I have been able to work with text<br />
and picture more freely than in my<br />
story-telling picture books. The<br />
book doesn’t need to be so finished<br />
– but has to contain a substance,<br />
which the child can explore and<br />
experience, play with! Words and<br />
pictures can together make a whole,<br />
a meaning – if the child itself wants<br />
it. Some children focus on only<br />
one picture, which for them has a<br />
special meaning, that we adults not<br />
always understand. Other children<br />
love just the thrilling turn over of<br />
pages.<br />
In fact everything is possible. And<br />
sooner or later the child, if there are<br />
books at hand, will get that ahaexperience:<br />
the book, the pictures<br />
and the words has a meaning, just<br />
for me. One more time!<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Artist and author<br />
Translated by Britt Isaksson<br />
31
Biography<br />
Born in Stockholm in 1946<br />
She has worked as<br />
• a journalist on daily newspapers<br />
and a freelancer for radio<br />
and television<br />
• self-taught illustrator (children’s<br />
books, animated film, exhibitions,<br />
magazines, posters, cartoons,<br />
etc.))<br />
• author (collection of verse 1966,<br />
children’s books, children’s radio,<br />
Chronicles in magazines and<br />
newspapers)<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> lives in Arbrå,<br />
Hälsingland in northern Sweden<br />
where she also keeps hens and<br />
sheep<br />
32<br />
Prizes<br />
Elsa Beskow plaque 1986<br />
Expressen’s Heffaklump 1987 for<br />
“Resan till Ugri-La-Brek”<br />
Gävleborg County Cultural Award<br />
1989<br />
Litteraturfrämjandet’s Award for<br />
Books for Children and Young<br />
People 1989<br />
Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis 1992<br />
for “Resan till Ugri-La-Brek”<br />
Pier Paolo Vergeri’s Special Mention<br />
for “Resan till Ugri-La-Brek”<br />
Wettergren’s Barnbokollon 1993 for<br />
“Förr i tiden i skogen”<br />
The August Prize 2002 for Adjö,<br />
herr Muffin (text by Ulf Nilsson)<br />
<strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong> <strong>Tidholm</strong> is entitled to<br />
the Guaranteed Author’s Allowance
Bibliography<br />
BoLaGet, PLUttarNa oCh<br />
mosKroGafoLKet<br />
The Company, the Dots and the Moskroga People<br />
Text: Mats Arvidsson & Rahtje Vierth<br />
Bonniers 1970<br />
tiLLBaKs tiLL NatUreN<br />
Back to Nature<br />
Bonniers 1970<br />
Vad Bosse fiCK se<br />
What Bosse Saw<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1971<br />
JÄtteN oCh eKorreN<br />
The Giant and the Squirrel<br />
Ägget 1980<br />
Danish: Kaempen, der icke kunne blive maet.<br />
Sesam 1987<br />
saGaN om osteN<br />
oCh aNdra saGor<br />
The Tale of the Cheese and other Tales<br />
Gidlunds 1981<br />
KorVeN, folksaga<br />
The Sausage, a folktale<br />
Ägget 1982<br />
PoJKeN oCh haNs ULLiGa fÅr,<br />
folksaga<br />
The Boy and his Woolly Sheep, a folktale<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1982<br />
Danish: Drengen og hans tottede får. Høst 1983<br />
ÅKeBoKeN<br />
Åke’s Book<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Ägget 1983<br />
GLÖm iNte JordNÖtterNa!<br />
Don’t forget the peanuts!<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Ägget 1983<br />
Danish: Glem ikke jordnødderne! Alrune 1993<br />
sPÅrLÖst Borta<br />
No trace<br />
Text: Ulf Nilsson<br />
Bonniers 1984<br />
Danish: Sporløst førsvunnet. Sesam 1985<br />
KaNiN med NedhÄNGaNde ÖroN<br />
Rabbit with Hanging Ears<br />
Korpen 1985<br />
BarNeNs sVeNsKa historia 1,<br />
När människorna kom<br />
Childrens’ History of Sweden<br />
– When the People came<br />
Text: Sonja Hulth<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1986<br />
ett JoBB fÖr JaCKo<br />
A Job for Jacko<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1987<br />
Japanese: Sakasu-nante y Ameta. Iwasaki<br />
Shoten 1988<br />
Danish: Et job til Jacko. Alrune 1992<br />
resaN tiLL UGri-La-BreK<br />
The Journey to Ugri-La-Brek<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1987<br />
Danish: Rejsen til Ugri-la-Brek. Høst&Søn 1995<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1995<br />
Dutch, Querido 1995<br />
Norwegian: Reisen til Ugri-la-Brek. Carlsen<br />
1995<br />
German: Die reise nach Ugri-la-Brek. Beltz<br />
1995<br />
33
ett faLL fÖr NaLLe<br />
A Case for Teddy<br />
Alfabeta 1988<br />
Danish: Bamse klarer alt. Høst 1990<br />
German: Bruno bär, detektiv. Hanser 1995<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1996<br />
Jims ViNter<br />
Jim’s Winter<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1988<br />
UNiVersUms historia<br />
The History of the Universe<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Morkullan 1988<br />
se UPP fÖr eLefaNterNa<br />
Beware of the Elephants!<br />
Text: Ulf Nilsson<br />
Bonniers 1989<br />
Finnish: Varokaa norsuja. WSOY 1990<br />
Norwegian: Max i dyrebutikken. Damm1990<br />
French: Gare aux éléphants! Kid Pocket 1994<br />
BaLLadeN om marJaN oCh roLf<br />
Ballad of Marian and Rolf<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1989<br />
Danish: Balladen om Marie og Rolf. Høst&Søn<br />
1991<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1996<br />
ViLL ha sYster!<br />
Want Sister!<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1991<br />
PoJKeN oCh stJÄrNaN<br />
The Boy and the Star<br />
Text: Barbro Lindgren<br />
Eriksson & Lindgren 1991<br />
Danish: Drengen og stjernen. Gyldendal 1993<br />
Norwegian: Gutten og stjerna. Det Norske<br />
Samlaget 1993<br />
Finnish: Poijka ja tähti. Tammi 1993<br />
34<br />
KNaCKa PÅ!<br />
Knock, Knock, Knock!<br />
Alfabeta 1992<br />
Norwegian: Banke på. Gyldendal 1992, 2006<br />
Danish: Banke på! Gyldendal 1992<br />
Dutch: Klop, klop, klop. Middernacht 1992<br />
German: Klopf an! Hanser 1993<br />
Finnish: Koputetaan Schildts 1994<br />
French, Albin Michel 1994<br />
Korean, Sakyejul 1994, 2007<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1996<br />
Portuguese, Callis (Bra) 1998<br />
Faeroese, Bokadeild 2001<br />
Hebrew, Agam publishing 2006<br />
Polish, Zakamarki 2008<br />
English, MacKenzie Smiles (US) 2009<br />
soVa ÖVer<br />
Staying the Night<br />
Text: Siv Widerberg<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1992<br />
Norwegian: Sove borte. Bokklubbens Barn 1993<br />
Danish: Sove sammen. Gyldendal 1993<br />
Laplandish: Idjadit. Sami Girjjit 1992<br />
Laplandish: Isjastallat. Sami Girjjit 1992<br />
German: Heut schlafe ich bei Fredrik. Maier<br />
1993<br />
GUNGa Lite GraNN<br />
Dandle a bit<br />
Songs by Jujja and Tomas Wieslander<br />
Natur and Kultur 1993<br />
aLLihoP<br />
All of Them<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1993<br />
Norwegian: Alle sammen. De Norske Bokklubbene<br />
1994<br />
Norwegian: Alle sammen. Gyldendal Norsk<br />
1995<br />
fÖrr i tideN i sKoGeN<br />
In the Old Days in the Forest<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1993<br />
Danish: I skoven for laenge siden. Carlsen 1993<br />
French: Moi je veux aller a l’ecole. Mango 1993
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1993<br />
Norwegian: Før i tiden i skogen. Aschehoug<br />
1993<br />
German: Als Natan klein var. Beltz 1993<br />
hitta PÅ!<br />
What to Do?<br />
Alfabeta 1993<br />
Norwegian: Finne på. Gyldendal 1992<br />
German: Denk dir was aus! Hanser 1993<br />
Dutch: Wil je met me spelen? Middernacht 1993<br />
Danish: Finde på! Gyldendal 1993<br />
Finnish: Etsitään! Schildts 1994<br />
Korean, Sakyejul 1994, 2007<br />
Japanese, Holp Shupan/EA 1996<br />
French, Albin Michel 1996<br />
Portuguese, Callis (Bra) 1998<br />
Hebrew, Agam publishing 2006<br />
Ut oCh GÅ!<br />
Out Walking!<br />
Alfabeta 1993<br />
Danish: Ud at gå! Gyldendal 1992<br />
Norwegian: Ut og gå! Gyldendal 1992<br />
Dutch: Ge je mee naar. Middernacht 1993<br />
Finnish: Seikkai luun! Schildts 1994<br />
Korean, Sakyejul 1994, 2007<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1996<br />
Faeroese, Bokadeild 2001<br />
Hebrew, Agam publishing 2006<br />
Polish, Zakamarki 2008<br />
VarfÖr dÅ?<br />
Why?<br />
Alfabeta 1994<br />
Danish: Hvorfor det? Gyldendal 1994<br />
Finnish: Miksi noin? Schildts 1994<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1994<br />
Korean, Sakyejul 1994, 2007<br />
Dutch: Waarom? Middernacht 1994<br />
Norwegan: Hvorfor det? Gyldendal 1994<br />
German: Warum? Hanser 1994<br />
Portuguese, Callis (Bra) 1998<br />
Hebrew, Agam publishing 2006<br />
KasPers aLLa daGar<br />
All Caspar’s Days<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1994<br />
Danish: Alle Kaspers dager. Høst&Søn 1995<br />
Dutch: De dagen van Caspar. Middernacht 1995<br />
Norwegian, Aschehoug 1995<br />
tUre BLÅser Bort<br />
Ture Blows Away<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1994<br />
Danish: Herbert blaeser vaek. Gyldendal 1995<br />
French, Albin Michel 1995<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1995<br />
Dutch: Jacob waait weg. Middernacht 1995<br />
German: Ture bläst es fort. Hanser 1995<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
tUre KoKar soPPa<br />
Ture Makes Soup<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1995<br />
Danish: Herbert laver suppe. Gyldendal 1995<br />
French, Albin Michel 1995<br />
Japanese, Holp Shuppan/EA 1995<br />
Dutch: Jacob maakt soep. Middernacht 1995<br />
German: Ture kandt suppe. Hanser 1995<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
LaNas LaNd<br />
Lana’s Land<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1996<br />
Danish, Carlsen 1997<br />
Norwegian, Aschehoug 1997<br />
tUre sitter oCh tittar<br />
Ture Sits Looking<br />
Alfabeta 1996<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 1996<br />
French, Albin Michel 1996<br />
Dutch, Middernacht 1996<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
35
tUre sKrÄPar Ner<br />
Ture Makes a Mess<br />
Alfabeta 1996<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 1996<br />
French, Albin Michel 1996<br />
Dutch, Middernacht 1996<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
tUre BLir BLÖt<br />
Ture Gets Wet<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1997<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 1997<br />
French, Albin Michel 1997<br />
Dutch, Middernacht 1997<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
tUre sKottar sNÖ<br />
Ture Shovels Snow<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1997<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 1997<br />
French, Albin Michel 1997<br />
Dutch, Middernacht 1997<br />
Korean, Nurimbo (Momo) 2004<br />
fLiCKorNas historia: från igelkottsflickan<br />
på stenåldern till Julia i vår tid<br />
The Girl’s History: from the Hedgehog-girl in the<br />
Stone Age to Julia in Our Time<br />
Text: Kristina Lindström<br />
Alfabeta 1997<br />
eN sVart hUNd<br />
A Black Dog<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1997<br />
NaLLe heJ!<br />
Teddy Hello!<br />
Alfabeta 1997<br />
Danish, Sesam 1997<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
German, Annette Betz 2000<br />
36<br />
tUre fÅr BesÖK<br />
Ture Has a Visitor<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1998<br />
tUre Borstar tÄNderNa<br />
Ture Brushes his Teeth<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1998<br />
aLLa dJUreN<br />
All the Animals<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>, Thomas; <strong>Tidholm</strong>, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1998<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 1998<br />
LÅNGa BeN<br />
Long Legs<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 1999<br />
Danish, Carlsen 1999<br />
se Ut: en bok om människor<br />
How Do You Look: a Book about People<br />
Text: Lisa Berg Ortman<br />
Alfabeta 1999<br />
KaNiNeN som LÄNGtade hem.<br />
The rabbit who longed for home<br />
Text Lilian Edvall.<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 1999<br />
aPaN fiN<br />
Pretty Monkey<br />
Alfabeta 1999<br />
Danish, Sesam 1999<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
Dutch, Zirkoon 2000<br />
German, Annette Betz 2000<br />
mera mat!<br />
More Food!<br />
Alfabeta 2000<br />
Danish, Sesam 2000<br />
Dutch, Zirkoon 2000
LiLLa GrodaN<br />
Little Frog<br />
Alfabeta 2000<br />
Danish, Sesam 2000<br />
Dutch, Zirkoon 2000<br />
German, Annette Betz 2000<br />
LÄsa BoK<br />
Read a Book<br />
Alfabeta 2000<br />
Danish, Sesam 1999<br />
Italian, Edizioni EL 2000<br />
Dutch, Zirkoon 2000<br />
German, Annette Betz 2000<br />
fLiCKaN som Bara ViLLe LÄsa<br />
The Girl Who Only Wanted to Read<br />
Text: Sonja Hulth<br />
Alfabeta 2000<br />
saGor frÅN sKoGeN<br />
Stories from the Forrest<br />
Alfabeta 2001<br />
Japanese, Rutles (Tuttle Mori Agency) 2007<br />
JoLaNta<br />
Jolanta<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 2002<br />
JaG BehÖVer LiLLBrorsaN<br />
I Need My Little Brother<br />
Text: Solja Krapu<br />
Alfabeta 2002<br />
heLa NatteN<br />
All Night Long<br />
Alfabeta 2002<br />
Danish, Sesam 2002<br />
Lite sJUK<br />
Somewhat Ill<br />
Alfabeta 2002<br />
Danish, Sesam 2002<br />
adJÖ, herr mUffiN<br />
Good-bye Mr Muffin<br />
Text Ulf Nilsson<br />
BonnierCarlsen 2002<br />
fLiCKorNas historia, eUroPa<br />
The Girls History, Europe<br />
Text Kristina Lindström .<br />
Rabén & Sjögren 2002<br />
PaPPaN som fÖrsVaNN<br />
och andra berättelser för barn och vuxna<br />
The Daddy Who Disappeared and Other Stories<br />
for Children and Adults<br />
Alfabeta 2003<br />
aLLa fÅr ÅKa med<br />
Everyone Can Ride Along<br />
Alfabeta 2004<br />
Dutch, Hillen 2005<br />
Norwegian, Gyldendal 2005<br />
German, Hanser 2005<br />
VÄCK iNte deN BJÖrN som soVer:<br />
sagor och sägner<br />
Don’t Wake A Sleeping Bear: Stories and Myths<br />
Text: Per Gustavsson<br />
Alfabeta 2004<br />
haNNa hUset hUNdeN<br />
Hanna the House the Dog<br />
Alfabeta 2004<br />
NÄr Vi fiCK feLiX<br />
When We Had Felix<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 2005<br />
eN LiteN stUNd<br />
A Short While<br />
Alfabeta 2006<br />
Danish, Gyldendal 2006<br />
French, Oskar Editions 2006<br />
37
sNÄLLa BarN<br />
Nice Children<br />
Text: Thomas <strong>Tidholm</strong><br />
Alfabeta 2007<br />
simoNs aNKa<br />
Simon’s Duck<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>; Jacobson, Gun<br />
Alfabeta 2008<br />
NeLLY PaCKar<br />
Nelly Packs Her Bag<br />
<strong>Tidholm</strong>, <strong>Anna</strong>-<strong>Clara</strong>; Jacobson, Gun<br />
Alfabeta 2008<br />
Vad tÄNKer KNoddeN?<br />
What is Knodden thinking of<br />
Text: George Johansson<br />
Natur & Kultur, 2009<br />
miN famiLJ<br />
My Family<br />
Olika förlag 2009<br />
38<br />
CD-ROM<br />
KNaCKa PÅ!<br />
Knock! Knock! Knock!<br />
Alfabeta Multimedia 1996<br />
Danish: Banke på! EMP 1996<br />
German: Klopf an! Terzio 1996<br />
MOVIE / DVD<br />
Jims ViNter<br />
Jim’s Winter<br />
Lisbet Gabrielsson Film AB 2001<br />
sNUttefiLm fÖr de smÅ<br />
(together with Gun Jacobson)<br />
Lisbet Gabrielsson Film AB 2008<br />
Alfabeta DVD 2008